The present application relates to sewer cleaning machines and, more particularly, to improvements in sewer cleaning machines of the type having a flexible plumbers cable or “snake” with a bulk portion coiled within a rotatable drum from which a working portion of the snake is withdrawn and inserted into a pipe or sewer to be cleaned and by which the snake is rotated to achieve such cleaning. In one preferred form the improvement is an electronic cable counter configured to count an amount of cable payed out from or withdrawn into the rotating drum during use of the drain cleaning apparatus for specific jobs, over the life of the cable, and a time of use of the machine per job and overall and, in another form, the improvement is a drain cleaning apparatus in combination with such cable counter. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention may find application in related environments and in any application where a working member is carried in or on a rotating carrier member and wherein there is a need or desire to determine an amount of the working member payed from the rotating carrier member.
Drum type sewer cleaning machines of the type to which the present application is directed are well known and are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,468,490 to DiJoseph; U.S. Pat. No. 2,730,740 to O'Brien; U.S. Pat. No. 3,007,186 to Olsson; U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,422 to Siegal; U.S. Pat. No. 3,095,592 to Hunt; U.S. Pat. No. 3,134,119 to Criscuolo; U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,354 to Cooney, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,139 to Babb, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,306 to Irwin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,276 to Babb, et al.; and, U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,588 to Rutkowski, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. As will be seen from these patents, it is known to provide a drum type sewer cleaning machine comprising a frame structure supporting a rotatable snake drum and a drive motor arrangement for rotating the drum, and to provide for the drum to be removable from the frame and drive arrangement to, for example, facilitate replacement of the drum with one containing a snake having a different diameter. It will also be seen from these prior art patents that such drum type sewer cleaning machines may include a snake feeding arrangement supported by the frame and by which the snake or cable is adapted to be axially displaced relative to the drum during use of the machine. In these feeding devices, typically, a set of stationary roller wheels are moved into selective engagement with the rotating cable. The wheels are held at an angle relative to the rotational axis of the cable to thereby axially urge the cable out from and into the rotating carrier member where it is stored.
Simple devices for monitoring the length of snake or cable material payed out from a sewer or drain cleaning machine are also known in the art, such as noted in U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,422 to Siegal, U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,519 to Pembroke, U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,017 to Prange, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,242 to Prange, hereby incorporated by reference. These patents are generally concerned with measuring the length of a cable displaced into a drain being cleaned. However, in these applications, the cable material in the sewer cleaning device is not rotated about its axis, and is not in the form of a helically wound snake. In addition, in a selected set of these patents, the cable counting device requires a direct physical contact with the drain cleaning cable which could in some circumstances cause the counting device to become contaminated by debris carried by the drain cleaning snake or cable. Thus, these devices are somewhat limited and, further, do not encounter the same problems as are encountered in connection with monitoring the displacement of such a rotating cable coiled inside a rotating drum.
Accordingly, there is a need for an electronic cable counter configured to count an amount of snake or drain cleaning cable payed out from or retracted into a rotating drum of an associated drain cleaning apparatus without the need to directly contact the snake or cable and while permitting drum rotation. There is a further need for a drain cleaning apparatus including a frame, a drum, a flexible drain cleaning cable, and an electronic cable counter configured to count the amount of snake or cable payed out from or retracted into the rotating drum of the apparatus.
There is an additional need for an electronic cable counter configured to count an amount of snake or drain cleaning cable payed out from or retracted into a rotating drum of an associated drain cleaning apparatus on a per job basis as well as on an overall or historical basis. There is a further need for a drain cleaning apparatus including a frame, a drum, a flexible drain cleaning cable, and an electronic cable counter configured to count the amount of snake or cable payed out from or retracted into the rotating drum of the apparatus on a per job basis as well as on an overall or historical basis.
There is yet a further need for an electronic cable counter configured to count a time of use of the machine on a per job basis as well as on an overall or historical basis. There is a further need for a drain cleaning apparatus including a frame, a drum, a flexible drain cleaning cable, and an electronic cable counter configured to count the time of use of the machine on a per job basis as well as on an overall or historical basis.